Method of making ice-cream sandwiches



April 18, l944. W. S. WATTS METHOD 0E MAKING ICE CREAM sANDwIcHEs Filed Maron 9, 1942 www -llinvvvvun LE?? Patented Apr. 18, 1944 UNITED STATES.. PATENT OFFICE METHOD oF MAKING ICE-CREAM sANnwrcnEs Warren S. Watts, Montclair. N. J., assignor to Eskimo Pie Corporation, Bloomfield, N. J., a corporation of Delaware ,application March 9, 1942, semi No. 433,934 s claims. (c1. iov-54) Ice cream sandwiches consist of a central rece tangular portion of ice cream having its upper and lower faces abutting and covered by a baked product such as a wafer. The present method The above method involves a substantial number of operations and is slow. It is the specific object of this invention Ato produce ice cream sandwiches more rapidly and with the reduction of handling and greater sanitary protection, with increased speed and a substantially lower cost, so that a higher quality product may be marketed to the public at the same cost of the products of lesser quality now generally marketed.

These and other objects of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view in front elevation showing an apparatus capable of carrying the method into effect.

Figure 2 is a composite view showing the three stages of lling the protecting paper mold liner and carrier.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing a suitable type mold liner and carrier partially formed.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section of the feeding belt taken on the line 4 4, Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the article (indicated by dotted lines) in a bag and ready for sale. f

Referring to the drawing, I have shown in Figure 1 an ice cream discharge outlet at the end of the chamber 2 which may be the continuation or outlet pipe of a freezer such as the well known creamery package or Vogt continuous freezers.

- Any suitable control for closing and opening the discharge outlet may be provided.

At 3 is a horizontal table over which is run a continuous belt d. The table is supported by brackets 5 rising from a frame work comprising suitable horizontal members such as indicated at S and vertical standard 7. TheV belt is carried .over drums or pulleys 8, 8a: on shafts 9 rotating in suitable bearing members I Il and one of the shafts, shaft 9 in the present example, carries a pulleyv II driven by belt I 2 from a suitable source of power. The exterior face of the belt is provided with a series of pockets now to be described.

In the present embodiment, each pocket comprises spaced .walls I extending transversely of the belt and a plurality of wall members It extending longitudinally of the belt secured thereto in any suitable manner as by the rivets Il which pass through horizontal flanges oi' the wall members I 4.

At the discharge end of belt 4 and below the same is a second table I6 supported by brackets I'I from a frame comprising the horizontal member or members I8 and vertical supports such as I9 and l. Running along the table is an endless belt 20 carried by pulleys 2|, 2Ia: mounted on `shafts 22, 22x. Shaft 22x carries a pulley 23 driven by a belt 24 which leads upward to a pulley 25 on shaft 9.

Intermediate the discharge end of belt I and the receiving area of belt 20 is a downwardly v extending, and preferably curved, slide plate 26. In the operation of my method, light-weight paper board trays, or scored and cut-out blanks of paper board, either waxed or unwaxed, shown in Figure 3 (that figure showing the liner only partly formed) are depressed into the successive pockets formed by members I3 and Il as belt I moves toward the ice cream discharge outlet I. 'I'hese liners may be substituted by pre-formed box trays, if desired. As each liner reaches the ice cream discharge outlet I the pre-formed trays or liners are filled with ice cream, but before such filling an operator places in the bottom of the tray or liner a suitable cake wafer.l 'I'he tray or liner is generally indicated at 2'I and the initial cake wafer indicated at 28. The tray or liner containing the initial cake wafer 28 and the ice cream 29 then-will have the appearance shown in the diagrammatic cross section shown at the center of the schematic view, Figure 2.l

When the successive trays or liners pass the ice cream lling unit as they move in the direction of the arrow, Figure 1, an operator will place a top cake wafer 28a: on the top surface of the ice cream. In the continued movement of the articles, they will reach the end of the feed belt at which the slide plate 26 is located, and at this point the foremost of the guide walls I3, I4, will move downwardly away from the articles as they successively reach such point, in the manner shown in Figure 1. The continued movement of belt 4 will cause eaclr article to be rmoved downwardly upon the slide plate and the articles will -descend upon'belt 20. From belt 26 the articlesl may be removed and placed in bags such as ini adhere to the paper tray into 'which it is discharged. For this reason, the liner 2l may have disconnected upwardly extending walls. as illustrated, and yet when the articles pass upon belt 20 their form will be maintained pending final and intense refrigeration in the usual hardening room. By reason of the fact that the liner illusy trated in Figure 3 has disconnected upwardly exteristics and tendency to pre-form, and retain form of semi-plastic ice cream until frozen to a substantially solid state and which under slight restraint will be satisfactorily held by a liner such as shown in Figure 3. The hner and its contents are held in restraint and in form by the pocket walls I3, I4, for a suilicient time to afford a slight settling and conforming of the semi-plastic and minor adhesion to the side walls of the liner, so that by the time the ice cream sandwich is passed upon belt 20 it may be picked up and bagged preliminary t hardening.

My method and apparatus enables great speed of production with simplicity in the mechanical elements and each unit may be rapidly operated by three operators, one at each side of the ice cream discharge outlet for inserting the cake wafers, and one at belt for bagging. As stated hereinabove, the speed of production and its cost constitutes great improvement over the method of production now in general use.

A modification ofthe method is employed when it is desired that thin wafers of chocolate 4be used instead of the baked cake-like wafer 28. 'I'hus the tray-like liners 21 may be initially subjected to low temperature in the usual hardening room or other refrigeration temperature so as to be chilled. Either prior to or after applying the trays to the pockets of the carrier belt, a measured quantity of high content cocoa butter chocolate, somewhat sweetened, will be poured in each tray, the cholocate quickly settling into uniform thickness and rapidly solidifying due to the absorption of heat therefrom bythe chilled trays or in a chilled atmosphere. Promptly thereafter the trays will move under the discharge outlet l of the chamber 2 holding the plastic and yet iiowable ice cream and the tray will receive its predetermined discharge of ice cream, filling the tray to within approximately l/e of an inch of the top of the tray. 0n tcp of the exposed side of the ice cream, there will be deposited as by pouring, the same kind of highcontent cocoa butter chocolate to form a. chocolate wafer or Vlayer similar in thickness and consistency to theinitial layer. In such modified method, -I prefer that the trays be waxed, at least on their inner surfaces, so as to be readily freed by the consumer from the composite sandwich of ice cream and chocolate wafers formedtherein by the method. The chocolate preparation employed has preferably a relatively high content of cocoa butter so that it will be solid atnormal room temperatures and will be quickly solidied under the subnormal temperature of the trays,'and/or the ice cream with which same are in direct contact. Such chocolate preparations are well known in the ice cream and confectionery elds, and usu- 'ally have a melting point above 90 F.

Having described my invention, .what I claim land desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as folows:

1. A method of manufacturing a product which consists of upper and lower edible wafers, an intermediate block of a frozen confection, and a thin-walled cellulosic molding member adapted to carry the edible portion of the product and to be stripped therefrom by the consumer, which method consists in flowing a supply of fluid partially frozen confection material of a nature exemplified by an ice cream mix into the thin-walled cellulosic member after placing an edible wafer in said molding member, the ow being continued until the frozen confection material partially fills the molding member, placing an edible wafer in the molding member over the ice cream confection and subjecting the product to hardening by intense refrigeration, whereby the hardened frozen confection block and the edible wafers bonded thereto by the intense refrigeration will enable manual stripping away of the cellulosic molding member.

2. A method of manufacturing a product comprising an edible portion consisting of a block of frozen confection material and wafer-like layers of hard chocolate bonded to its major faces, and a cellulosic tray-like molding carrier for the edible portion and adapted to be stripped therefrom by the consumer when the edible Portion is hardened, which comprises forming a chocolate wafer in a cooled cellulosic molding carrier -by flowing therein a chocolate preparation rendered iiuid by heat and solidifying at normal room temperature, the chocolate thereby being rapidly solidied, partially lling the molding carrier with a frozen confection material of a nature exemplified by an ice cream mix, forming a chocolate wafercover for the frozen confection by flowing thereon a chocolate preparation having melting and solidification points similar to the rst named chocolate preparation, and subjecting each of the edible constituents to hardening by intense refrigeration and to the point where the cellulosic molding carrier may be stripped away.

3. A method of manufacturing a product which consists of upper and lower edible wafers, an intermediate block of a frozen confection, and a thin-walled cellulosic molding member adapted to carry the edible portion of the product and to be stripped therefrom by the consumer, which method consists in flowing a predetermined amount of an edible compound rendered fluid by heat and capable of solidifying at about normal room temperature until said ilow forms a layer of wafer thickness in the cellulosic molding member, partially filling the cellulosic molding member with a fluid partially frozen confection of a nature exemplied by an ice cream mix, forming an edible Wafer-cover for the frozen confection by owing thereon an edible compound rendered iluid by heat and having a solidiiication point similar to the rst named layer-forming compound, andv subjecting each o vthe edible constituents of the product to hardening by intense refrigeration and to the point where the thin-walled cellulosic molding member may be stripped away.

WARREN S. WATIS. 

